Maidstone & District - Model AEC Regent V

A few shots of one of my models scratchbuilt in card to a scale of 1/43rd (7mm scale)
This time a 1956 Maidstone and District AEC Regent V MD3RV registration VKR 479 fleet number DH487 with a Park Royal H59RD body.
The model was commisioned for a client in Australia.

Completed shell in colour prior to assembly. (Still in the workshop’s!)

Painted, lettered and ready to go.

Iain Simms
12/2011

31/12/11 - 07:39

What a superb model. I am reminded that Halifax Corporation acquired some of the batch as a stop gap while awaiting new deliveries. They carried a notice saying they were sorry for the appearance of these buses.

Philip Carlton

31/12/11 - 11:33

As a bus and tram modeller myself, may I simply express my admiration for the M&D Regent V. I wish my skills were as good when scratch building in 4mm scale.
On the subject of bus modelling, I have a Modelcraft plan for a post war lowbridge Willowbrook bodied Foden. I think it has an LTC reg. Does anyone know which prototype this refers to, as the Modelcraft buses (and others) are all true to originals?

John Whitaker

01/01/12 - 12:02

May I say that I am in awe, not to say green with envy, at the beautiful construction and finish of this model. It brings back happy memories of a day at Sandtoft when a superb preserved vehicle of the same type was in attendance. To my delight I was invited to drive a couple of laps of the site in VKR 37 with a full load of visiting enthusiasts - I enjoyed it immensely and on the principle of "you never forget how to swim" it took me back to happy days with similar vehicles at Samuel Ledgard.

Chris Youhill

03/01/12 - 11:03

What a beautiful piece of workmanship this is - like most enthusiasts I would love to be able to do this. One minor quibble; in the original posting the vehicle is described as having a "VRR" registration. This is a Nottinghamshire mark. Should it be "VKR"? Don't have an M&D fleet list handy to check it for you, but thought I'd better pass this on before you send the model out in case it's not just a typo! As regards the Willowbrook bodied Foden PVD6, the only one produced was KMA 570. This was the PVD6 prototype and demonstrator and the only PVD6 fitted with a Foden (two stroke) engine. It was sold to Cawthorne and passed with that operator to Yorkshire Traction, one of only two PVD6s operated by a BET Group company - the other was with PMT. Once again I have to say how impressed I am with the Regent V model. If I ever win the lottery you will receive a large percentage of my winnings in exchange for your expertise!

Neville Mercer

The typo was fault I'm afraid Neville I have put it right now, thanks for pointing it out. Peter

03/01/12 - 11:05

An excellent model, well done, I too have the model of that batch but seeing mention of VKR 37 I am pleased to say I have the real life VKR 39 back in the UK after being rescued from Austria some 3 years ago. In a bit of a sorry state but sound overall, needing a upper deck re-instating (fortunately the offside well is still intact) and a set of seats! What actually happened to VKR 37? Obviously it did not last long in preservation.

Paul Baker

03/01/12 - 12:41

Like other correspondents, I'm full of admiration for this superb model. The detailing is quite magnificent.
Although Maidstone & District had one of the most mixed fleets of any BET company, the choice of AEC Regents in 1956 seems to me to have been an odd one. When the Bristols, on which M&D had majored after WWII, became unavailable, they more or less exclusively bought AEC single-deckers, but they turned only to Leyland for double-deck chassis, (apart from Chatham, where they chose Gardner-engined Guy Arabs), and I've never found out why they abandoned Leyland PD2s after having bought more than 70 of them. In the event, they only bought 22 Regents before returning to Leyland for Atlanteans, the reasons for that choice being mainly to do with replacing trolley buses in Hastings. 14 of the AECs had highbridge bodies; VKR 37, (DL 37) - the vehicle you drove, Chris - was one of the 8 lowbridge vehicles.
I only ever drove one of these AECs once, on a Saturday in 1967 when I was helping out at Gravesend Depot, driving relief part shifts to cover delayed breaks. Without wishing to offend AEC enthusiasts, my recollection of the vehicle, which by then would have been approaching its second re-certification, was that it was very tired. It certainly had the famous AEC megaphone exhaust note, but didn't seem as 'together' as the old Guys I knew from Chatham, many of which were in a similar stage in their life cycles. Maybe it was just the example I got to drive.
One other small point; until I saw the lovely model, I had totally forgotten that these vehicles were fitted with platform doors, the only front-engined M&D double deckers, I think, to have them.

Roy Burke

03/01/12 - 12:42

I can only add my admiration to that of everyone else for the superb quality of the model and its execution.
On the matter of the Foden with Lancashire plates. In the grey mists of my mind - is it from the Foden (enthusiasts') web-site? I seem to remember Warrington had one, possibly a demonstrator, which was rebodied and the original body remounted on another Foden. Is this the self-same bodied that ended up with Cawthorne's and Tracky?

David Oldfield

03/01/12 - 15:29

Hi David, and regarding your post about the Foden, a closer inspection of the Modelcraft plan shows a Cheshire reg. ETU 235. Perhaps this was a Foden demonstrator, with its Cheshire plate, but why it merited a contemporary Modelcraft plan, I do not know.
It would be interesting to know what became of this bus, assuming it DID exist! Modelcraft were not in the habit of issuing plans for ficticious vehicles!

John Whitaker

03/01/12 - 15:29

I seem to remember that Warrington had two (post war) PVD6 chassis which they fitted with (pre-war) MCCW bodies. The result was a little bit of an abomination as the bodies were shorter than the chassis and this was compensated for by a "ledge" above the cab and bonnet forward of the upper deck. Warrington's later PVD6s with East Lancs and Crossley bodywork were fine looking vehicles which only emphasised the ugliness of ther rebodies.

Neville Mercer

04/01/12 - 06:42

Glad you sorted out the registration so easily: I didn't want to be a party pooper but wondered if it ought to be in East Midlands livery! Mind you, if it was the old colours....

Joe

04/01/12 - 06:42

Splendid model of the Regent V. Wish I could model like that. As regards the Fodens, Warrington placed an order for Foden chassis soon after the war and in order to get some of them into service asap Foden supplied them with two chassis which Warrington bodied with pre war bodies. One of these chassis was a 1945 demonstrator with a Willowbrook lowbridge body. This body was then fitted to another new chassis in 1948 fitted with Foden's supercharged 2 stroke diesel which also became a demonstrator and was registered KMA 570. It was purchased by Cawthornes and passed to Yorkshire Traction in 1951. It couldn't have been more out of place in Tracky's Leyland dominated fleet however it remained in service till 1959!
Regarding Modelcraft, by coincidence, there has been no less than nine pages of correspondence on this subject in the current (Jan 2012) edition of the Model Bus Federations magazine "Model Bus Journal"

Eric

04/01/12 - 11:14

Thanks Eric for the info. The Modelcraft Foden looks like the 1945 prototype.
I used to be an MBF member, but my "old bus" tastes started to clash with the more modern tastes of the majority!
The Modelcraft buses, for those who are interested, are mainly of London prototypes : Weymann AEC 6 wheel and 4 wheel trolleys.
Weymann AEC Regal, Weymann 1940 Provincial RT (Glasgow), Inter station Cub, TF, Park Royal sd. Q, Willowbrook Foden, Bedford OB/Mulliner bus.
I think that's it, but there are loads of lorries, vans and some cars, mainly early post war era.

John Whitaker

04/01/12 - 16:05

Re. Modelcraft. I forgot to mention the pre-war RT. These plans are difficult to obtain, as they are 60 years old, and are collectors items, usually fetching a good price on Ebay.
Hopefully, some organisation could re-issue them as copies, as they are real gems. Otherwise, one is reliant on friends in order to get them copied.

John Whitaker

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